


The Game

by musesmistress



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-11
Updated: 2011-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-24 12:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/263580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress





	The Game

In the few days they'd been in Kelton, passing on their way to Aydindril, they had met many people, made many friends and been offered no end of support, supplies and bed's to sleep in. Zedd, being Zedd, took a huge bite of whatever food was passed his way, or passed in range of a hand or a summoning spell, while Cara strolled around the area scaring everyone and keeping her eye on them. Richard had contented himself with sitting next to her or doing whatever she did. Kahlan couldn't seem to mind it; being close to him was almost like a blessing.

Within the first few hours of arriving, the children from the orphanage across from the inn had gathered around them asking question of their journey, the bad guys and Richard's sword. Kahlan quickly took a seat on the edge of the fountain and pulled a pretty little girl of about six up onto her lap. Uninterested in Richard's story, the girl contented herself playing with Kahlan's sleeve, wrapping it around herself, or over her head like a veil. Kahlan helped, adding her other sleeve to the mix and wrapping the girl so tightly she giggled herself raw. She'd never had so much fun with her confessors dress in her life.

She hadn't seen her little friend so far today, but she was sure she was around somewhere. Richard had taken a seat back on the edge of the fountain a little over half an hour ago and since then Kahlan had wandered between the children looking for her playful friend. She listened as Richard recounted his battle with Darken Rahl, adding in bits and pieces here and there to make him seem more heroic and the whole situation more dangerous - or that he knew what he was doing. She knew he had no idea what was going on this side of his vision, trapped in the future where she was dead, only Zedd knew what really happened with the boxes.

Out the corner of her eye, as Richard reached the part where Cara protected him, she caught sight of six year old Nora rushing across the square towards her. Kahlan made it back to the fountain as the girl reached her and turned in time to catch the little one before she pounced into her arms.

"Look," she said, her hands clutching a little white box with gold flowers. "Look what I got," she said, turning as the children around them suddenly got up and started running around, grabbing sticks and starting pretend sword fights. Kahlan sat down close to Richard and set the girl across her lap.

"Where did you get that?" She asked, trying to get the girl talking.

"Over there," she pointed back the way she'd come and then started fiddling with the catch on the front of the box. “A man gave it to me,” she added as she managed to get the box open.

Before Kahlan could think that something was wrong, she was surrounded by light that felt as though it could choke her alive. She could hear screaming and bangs, clanging of metal and the ocean all at once and then she was sitting on a stone in the middle of the desert. Her arms tightened around Nora protectively.

“Nora, what did the man look like?” she asked, turning to scan the area for dangers.

“He had long black hair.”

“Was he wearing robes?” Nora nodded. A wizard had given her the box and now she was trapped somewhere with the little girl. Setting Nora down on her feet, she took the box and started to study it. There was nothing obscure about it, it was just a little box, big enough to hold a few pieces of jewellery with a golden flower on the front. She tried hard to think of a wizard that used that design to indicate himself, but nothing came to mind.

Experimentally she closed the box and opened it again, hoping, perhaps stupidly, that it would return them to the city. But it didn’t. She got up, moving carefully around the rock and spotted something a few feet away behind another rock. Stashing the box in the pocket inside her dress, she took Nora’s hand and led her over to the glint of silver. As she got closer she could make out the shape of a sword, still tight in its scabbard and detached from an owner. The blade was all she could see for several minutes before she rounded the rock and found the hilt engraved with the word “Truth”. Grabbing the sword and quickly looking around she spotted a boot sticking out further into the rocky lands.

“Richard?” she said, rounding to find him lying on his back, slowly coming around. “Richard, are you okay?” she asked, moving down to his side and using her free hand to brush away the trickle of blood that seeped down from a small cut just below his hair line.

“I’ll let you know when the world stops spinning,” he said. Nora giggled. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, the rocky landscape and desert sand weren’t familiar to her.

“How did we get here? Last thing I remember was watching Nora open her box.”

“A wizard gave her the box,” Kahlan said. Her tone must have been too harsh; Nora pulled her hand free and started crying almost as soon as she’d finished the sentence.

“I’m sorry,” she wailed.

“Hey,” Richard said, getting to his knees in front of her as Kahlan knelt down. “It’s okay, you didn’t know.”

“Richard.”

Kahlan looked up, to find herself standing on one of the rocks looking down on them. Confused, she looked back at Nora, still standing crying, and Richard, still holding onto the girl. There were two of them, well two Kahlan’s anyway.

"Who are you?" Richard asked, looking between both women.

"Richard," the other Kahlan said. "It's me, she's the imposter." She stepped down off the rock and moved closer. Instinctively Kahlan stood up, placing herself between Richard and whoever this woman really was.

Richard stood as well, looking between the two women trying to work this out. It was possible that Kahlan had been torn again, whatever magic was in that box could have pulled her in two, maybe somewhere nearby there was another version of him laying unconscious. Noise behind him startled him and he reached for his sword, realising a little too late that it was gone. Slipping a dagger out of the nearest Kahlan's boot, he turned and froze. He let out a sigh and turned back to find the same confusion on the faces of the two Kahlan's behind him. Standing there in front of him was a third, looking just as lost and shocked as the rest of them.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I wish I knew." Richard replied, considering for a moment that he was either in serious trouble or he'd just been sent to paradise. He shook the thought away; he didn't want loads of Kahlan's he just wanted one, the real one. Turning back to the two, he used the dagger to point at the sword in the first Kahlan's hands. "Where did you get that?"

"It was lying on the ground over there," she pointed before handing the sword over. Richard hesitated, but not from fear, he had to think this through carefully. Three Kahlan's, but only one Nora and Nora was the one that had brought them here, wherever here was. Nora was real and if she was real, then the first Kahlan was his Kahlan. He glanced back at the third, trying to figure out a way to tell them apart, on the move, it wouldn't take much to get them confused. Strapping the sword back in place, Richard turned to Nora, crouching down to her level.

"Nora," he said carefully. "Can I borrow your ribbon for a while?"

"What for?" she asked, reaching up to scrub the back of her hand across her cheek.

"I want to give it to one of the Kahlan's for a while, so we can tell which one is which."

She nodded. "I don't know how to untie it." Richard grinned, stabbed Kahlan's dagger into the ground and reached up to slip the ribbon from her hair. Retrieving the knife, he split the ribbon in two and stood up and tried to move passed the first Kahlan, but she stopped him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Remembering that you're the real Kahlan," he said, moving passed her and taking the arm of the second Kahlan and tying the ribbon around her wrist. Nora watched him as he moved to the third Kahlan and instructed her to tie the ribbon in her hair. It didn't pass his notice that she gave him a sour look as he turned away. Moving back to Nora he crouched down again and smiled. "I'll get you a new ribbon," he offered. "Any colour you want, but you have to do one more thing for me." Nora nodded.

"You need to stay close to Kahlan," he told her and smiled when she turned to look at the Kahlan behind her then back to the one behind him. "This Kahlan," he said indicating the one she'd arrived with. "She's the real Kahlan."

The second Kahlan scoffed. "How can you be so sure she's the real me?" Richard opened his mouth to answer, but a sword appeared through the centre of her chest, she gargled blood, the red dripping horrifyingly down her pristine white dress. Kahlan grabbed Nora and the dagger Richard was still holding and whirled towards the now dead duplicate. Richard slowly eased the sword from its scabbard, turning to scan the area. He couldn't see anyone nearby, the rocks where quiet and the landscape beyond offered no place to hide.

"We need to get out of here," he said, reaching out for Kahlan's arm and taking a step back to find the third Kahlan blocking his way.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on and who she is."

Richard sighed. "I don't know who you are, she's my Kahlan Amnell and if you want to stay here, then stay." He started to move passed her.

"I didn't travel through the midlands with you for two years for you to walk away from me now." Richard stopped. "Darken Rahl, the Stone of Tears, fighting D'Harans and Sisters of the dark." He had hoped she didn't know all the details of the last few years. He looked to Kahlan to find her giving her other self a murderous look. He studied her for a moment, trying to see if there were any differences between her and the Kahlan he had in his mind. Nothing was different and it took a moment more before he managed to turn and look at the other Kahlan. This was going to be difficult.

"What's my brother's name?" he asked.

"Michael," they echoed.

"Zedd is my..."

"Grandfather," they echoed again. Richard pinched at his temples.

"If someone threatened to kill me, or you, if I didn't kill either Zedd or Cara, which would I kill?"

"The man threatening us."

His head started thumping the second they started to answer. "Nora," he said after a minute. "I've changed my mind, you come and stay with me."

Nora obediently moved from between the Kahlan’s to Richard's side and took his hand. With another look at both Kahlan's Richard started walking, picking a random direction for them to go. He didn't like this at all, he knew which Kahlan was which, but he wasn't sure now which of them was real, if any of them were real. He'd have to spend some time thinking this through, there had to be a way to tell them apart.

\--

For hours Richard walked in the same direction, he had to pick Nora up at some point and she rested her head on his shoulder and quickly fell asleep. Behind him, both Kahlan's glared at the back of his head, he'd have to answer to the real one later on, but at the moment he was struggling to work out which was which. They were identical in every way, the clothes, the freckles, and the scars, everything about their appearance aside from the ribbon one of them wore in their hair. He had similar trouble with the personalities; they hated each other with the same level of loathing and seemed to love him with the same level of passion. He tried asking questions, putting them in difficult situations but they answered not only in the same way, but at exactly the same time. It was frightening to watch.

Richard stopped, closing his eyes for a moment in the heat from the sun and considered how weird it was not to be thirsty from it and the exhaustion of walking so much. When he opened his eyes again he found himself looking at the rock formation he'd left a couple of hours ago and worst of all, standing there, watching him were three more Kahlan's.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Richard moved back to the rocks and sat down with Nora across his lap. Kahlan, the first one, moved with him and sat down as the others began to demand to know what was going on and who each of the other Kahlan's were. Nora was woken after only minutes of their arguing and Richard apologised quietly to her and pulled her closer before turning his attention to the group of women.

"Which of you has the box?" he demanded. They ignored him for a moment before Richard stood up; Nora cradled across his arms and repeated, this time louder. "Which of you has the box?"

The Kahlan who had sat quietly beside him handed it over and he thanked her as Nora took it and he walked away from the crowd for a moment. Sitting on a rock at the edge of the area, he studied the box. The golden flower on the top was etched into the carefully carved box; the sides were smooth, except for one ragged patch on one end. Richard turned the box to look at the end and his brow creased. There were words scared into the smooth wood, hand added after the finish of the box and badly done at that. He didn't recognise the language, the symbols were more delicate as if the language belonged only to women.

An ancient order of women.

Turning back he caught sight of the first Kahlan, still sitting on the rock where he'd left her, bored with the argument of the others. Two of the women had taken to pulling on each other’s hair and he wondered just how much of Kahlan's personality was actually in conflict with itself. Catching the first Kahlan's attention and beckoned her over.

"Do you recognise the language?" he asked. It was a stupid question, all Confessors were taught all the languages of the Midlands, but this one held the promise of being old, rare and forgotten.

"No," she said. Richard's brow creased. Had it been that old a language that no confessor would even remember it. Even if they couldn't translate it, they should have been able to recognise the lettering. Richard stood up, setting Nora down as he did so and turned to the remaining four Kahlan's.

"Enough!" he shouted, not sure if he was annoyed at their bickering or the fact that they were more interested in each other than the problem. That's what made him think of it, Kahlan wouldn't do that. What would be the point of trapping them here with other versions of her if none of them could read the message the Wizard had left. "Which of you can read the inscription on this box?" He asked holding the box out to the nearest Kahlan.

She took it, studying the letters and shook her head before passing it to the next. When the last finally shock her head, his thoughts were confirmed. None of these women were his Kahlan Amnell. Taking the box, Richard picked up Nora and walked away, not caring if any of them were following. He walked away from the rocks, determined to find the next patch and the next set of three Kahlan's. It only took an hour of walking before he found the next set and he asked them to read the inscription before moving on again.

Hours later and with 14 Mother Confessor's following him, Richard turned into another set of rocks and demanded the Kahlan's read the writing on the box. As the first of them took it, he realised that one of the Kahlan's was leaning against a rock at the back; she made no move to join the group and didn't even look at any of the other Kahlan's. She was gazing off out over the horizon thinking hard about something, or watching something. Richard turned to see if he could see something too and watched a glimmer of something flash from the direction he'd come.

Both the other Confessors told him they couldn't read the writing and shoved the box into his chest to get his attention. With Nora close at his side, Richard moved over the last Kahlan and placed himself in front of her. As soon as her eyes met his he knew there was something different about her, a connection the others didn't seem to have.

"Can you read this?" he asked, holding up the box to show her the scribed end. It only took her a moment of looking before she met his eyes again.

"One love," she told him. "It says 'one love'."

"What does it mean?" Nora asked.

"It means this is the real Kahlan." He turned; looking down at the girl, then back out over the horizon to watch the glint of light flicker on and off. "What is that?"

"I don't know," Kahlan told him. "I've been watching it for a while, after those two started fighting and refused to help me search for you."

Curious, Richard pulled his sword from the scabbard at his hip and pointed it out towards the light. Nothing happened, he didn't expect anything to happen, but he thought he'd try it anyway. Lowering it to the ground and handing the box to Kahlan he moved a few paces to the side trying to get a better angle on it. As he turned back, Kahlan was fiddling with the latch on the box.

"Kahlan," he said moving back towards her. "You don't know what opening that will do."

"We're already stuck here with them," she pointed at the other Kahlan's. "How much worse can it be?" He watched as she looked down at Nora as the girl complained about being hungry. "If this doesn't work, we'll have to find something to eat," she said as she flicked the lid open and the world went white around them.

When Richard could finally open his eyes again, he looked around to find himself back in the square as if nothing had happened. His head rung with the sound of laughter and the words 'Just a game' and he turned to look at Kahlan, the box in her hands snapping shut quickly.

"A game?" she said a little incredulously.

"I didn't like that game," Nora said from between them.

"Neither did I," Richard admitted. The food bell at the orphanage rang and Nora shot off to get her meal. "That felt more like a test."

"A test for what? To see if you could tell me from hundreds of other Kahlan's?"

"I don't know," Richard said looking around. "But it felt like a test."

Kahlan smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "I'm pleased you passed."


End file.
